Hi guys.
I found this site whilst I was looking for Rodney Matthews posters and I have to say I was REALLY impressed by the quality of the work here. Most of the stuff I do is very ad-hoc and made from graph paper. Rest assured though that every dungeon I submit has been used in an actual D&D 3.5e game and I invite you to use them as if they were your own. (Obviously though I'd appreciate credit where credit is due).

Hi Wellsy, I think I might be the guilty party for posting links about Rodney Matthews. Which particular poster were you looking at ?

Looking at your other post have you thought about using a virtual table top then you can reuse and save out those dungeon floors. Sorta depends on whether you like the real minis being used on it. If you use stacks of dice, an orange, a mug and a bag of coins for monsters like I used to then its a good idea.

Wellsy89

02-15-2009, 02:15 PM

Yeeeah, it was you!
You are the one responsible!

Also since that Werther's skull dungeon gave me an amazing idea for how to continue the Portanauts adventure I think you are probably the reason my players are going to love the finale of this campaign. ^_^

Also since I am a total cheapskate I cut squares out for players, monsters, etc. and then mark them either with the players names or alphabetically for monsters.

Redrobes

02-15-2009, 02:27 PM

Yeeeah, it was you!
You are the one responsible!

Oops !

Also since that Werther's skull dungeon gave me an amazing idea for how to continue the Portanauts adventure I think you are probably the reason my players are going to love the finale of this campaign. ^_^

Also since I am a total cheapskate I cut squares out for players, monsters, etc. and then mark them either with the players names or alphabetically for monsters.

Ahh so this might be something to do with that bit about the map an inside of a creature then ??? Hmmm that skull was a nightmare to do. We all agreed that it would be good to have these bone rounded chambers like eye sockets and cranial orb shaped rooms with sinewy strands of stuff etc but just try to map it. So very hard.

You play Halo 3 ? Theres a section in the middle of the story where you go inside a big creature type space and they have done it really well. Its a nasty game level but I had to give credit to the creators of it.

I used to have a collection of Rodney stuff and painted one on a jacket patch in another lifetime. His stuff is very inspiring.

Wellsy89

02-15-2009, 02:46 PM

Drawing organic structures is all about thinking in curves and lumps. But then I have professional training in organic modelling so it's second nature. (3D Computer Animation ftw).

I haven't actually played Halo 3 but there was a section in Gears of War 2 where you're inside a giant worm and I got my inspiration from there.

Rodney Matthews is my favourite artist of all time, seriously. My Dad gave me "In Search of Forever" and "Last Ship Home" when I was about seven. I attribute the fact I went into an arts based degree totally to those books.

Redrobes

02-15-2009, 03:01 PM

I have both those books too - one signed too :). He used to live a drive from me but he moved to north Wales I think. Never met him tho - I was given the second book as a prez from someone who knew I liked his stuff when he released the last ship home and was on a signing tour. There was a shop in Bristol where he must have dumped off a load of his 1993 Calendars as after a while you could pick them up for less and less each year. So a few of us got some and cut them up and pinned them to the walls. Terrific stuff.

Since your into the organic modeling you would probably appreciate this thread (http://www.cartographersguild.com/showthread.php?t=2938) which is why I said I have better tools for that skull this time around.

Do you use Maya then ? We have a mix of 3D app styles here. I use an old version of light wave but would like to go with something newer. Just binned Blender for being so bloody infuriating and buggy. Was looking at options. Was playing with nVidias gelato a night or so ago which does give superb quality and also POVRay cos RobA is into that which is surprisingly good. Arcana uses Max but I tried that for a while and didn't get on with it well. I suspect I would be satisfied with nothing less than Maya with PRRenderman...

If you have some time maybe post some tuts about how you model esp w.r.t organic shapes. I suspect that we wont have the tools but it would be interesting in any case. I guess Z Brush would be an advantage with that too.

Oh Gears - Got 1, playing 2 this week helping a mate get through the flood section so might see some of that :)

EDIT -- I see you have edited your location. Your also the person probably closest to me then. We have a members location map in my sig which you can put yourself on if you like (remember the negative lng coord !)

Wellsy89

02-15-2009, 03:23 PM

*drools over the thread*
Ah yes, Maya 2008 is what I use, I spent most of yesterday rigging a robot with it, so much easier than XSI. I can happily just sit with it all day and play with creating random bits and pieces. Its such a fun interface, the only thing they could do to make it nicer to use would be if it were covered in chocolate sauce and chopped nuts.

Hmm.. and now I'm hungry.

Redrobes

02-15-2009, 03:43 PM

Glad you like it. Its pretty good at scanning face casts but I tried my head live and I wobble about too much and it shows on the model. It takes about a minute to scan my head. Need to rest it on something I reckon.

We have Rhava who uses Maya too but I haven't seen anything Maya like from her yet. One thing you might be able to set straight for me. There is a scripting language that is built into it. Is the language a custom one or standard. People seem to settling on python but I remember it looking like Perl too. Is it much different from either. Theres a few of us here who write script based stuff for maps - I am Perl, RobA / Saganlicht and a few others more python so just wondering really. I expect ill just have to take some hours out and learn python anyway.

"Fun Interface" those would be the last words I would use to describe Blender which seems to be trying to be the free Maya. Long way to go I think. Ahh well, when I get that fabled pro role doing anim / games with Maya ill discover the Mayan nirvana.

Anyhoo - will see more of your stuff in due course. You have (almost) unique set of skills and tools for us to compare maps & techniques with.

Wellsy89

02-15-2009, 04:04 PM

Maya uses its own programming language called MEL which is a lot like Python. I don't tend to use it all that much since I'm on the BA course not the BSc course. It might be an idea to surf around for tips and tricks on MEL scripting.

Redrobes

02-15-2009, 04:14 PM

Cool thanks, so I think thats settled it. I gots ta learn python - theres too many people using it now to ignore any longer. Python is supposed to be like Java and Perl is more like C and I am from the old and crotchety C era. It should translate across the two pretty seamlessly tho.